In a world where we’re all constantly scrabbling to charge our phones and laptops and reliant on data centres, a reliable power supply is essential. Unfortunately, the number of significant power outages in Australia and New Zealand almost doubled in 2013.
Electricity picture from Shutterstock
Power management company Eaton’s annual roundup of major outages identified 162 last year, up from 94 in 2012. The average duration of outages also rose from 105 minutes to 168 minutes.
Not all these outages could have been avoided, since many were caused by weather, as you can see in the chart below:
The key lessons for IT pros? Power is unpredictable. Make sure surge protectors are installed, and ensure backup strategies and alternate supplies are in place in data centres. And keep a spare phone battery charged.
Comments
14 responses to “Power Outages In Australia Went Up 72% in 2013”
A few energy companies in the US were caught creating these blackouts. to get more money for the energy.
with Australia its already happening. with every home pretty much having some sort of Solar on it now. its safe to say 50% of the energy is now free. So energy companies. have had to increase their price for supply of electricity to maintain their profits! and now the blackouts come as the “cant meet demand anymore” which is total horseshit! they are needed mainly at night and in lw sun weather as its easy to say 50% of power is supplied by the very own ppl owning Solar. this is the biggest rort in australia right now. and we need to start getting on top of it!
“With every home pretty much having some sort of Solar on it now.”… Wrong.
“It’s safe to say 50% of the energy is now free.”… Wrong.
“So energy companies. have had to increase their price for supply of electricity to maintain their profits!”… Wrong
Please read something before spreading more lies around the internet.
Here’s a good place to start.
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/04/22/comment-why-electricity-prices-keep-rising
well so tell me exactly how much energy all the solar panels in australia are making! you wont be able to all there are a guesstimates. and that was a guess. I dont think its too far fetched considering. I think 50% which would include solar/wind/hydro i d say its no lower then 35% lets be conservative and say 35% prices have risen so much above that anyway.
Where do you get any of that from?
More power outages… yet we’re paying MORE than we ever have ever again.
A few years back, parts of Victoria were having blackouts, but it turned out that the providers were selling the power to SA. As for solar, I’ve determined that it’s not financially viable for me at this point.
Where on a national system. If sa cant generate enough power vic will load share with sa.
That may be the case, but it shouldn’t be to the detriment of Victorians. Obviously the Victorian power stations can’t generate enough for both SA and Victoria if Victorian homes and businesses don’t get power….
On a side note, your spelling and grammar are both horrendous. *We’re (short for “we are”)
Thanks for the gramnar lesson while i type on my phone. Why shouldnt it be to the detriment of victorians? Why so special.
If there was an excess of generated power, then sure… but you don’t cut power from people to provide power to people – and that’s exactly what happened in this case….. I could ask the same thing of you – why are SA’s so special? Apart from the fact they probably paid more for it.. So if that’s the case, lets cut electricity to all of Victoria, and onsell it SA, because the retailers will get more for there.
So hospitals and vital infrastructure can go with out as long as you get your xbox and aircon?
Roughly in line with prices.
Pretty sure they went up 72%